Catch-22

An American congressman has been assured by Yousef Al Otaiba, the UAE’s ambassador to the United States that Israeli tennis player Andy Ram will be given a visa to Dubai in order to play in next week’s Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, reports The New York Times. “I’ve gotten the assurance from the ambassador,” said Anthony D. Weiner, a democrat from New York.

“It was my sense from the ambassador that he was looking to do the right thing, but that’s small consolation to Miss Peer. He understood that they had made a mistake and they had a public relations problem,” he added.

This is a public relations mess. Kipp can’t wait to see how Dubai will handle the male Israeli player. If Dubai denies him entry, then the Emirate is in trouble with the world press and the tennis associations; if it doesn’t, then it’ll be accused of being sexist Israeli-sympathizers. It looks like a no-win situation.

I can’t wait to see what the outcome of this one is… and how the international media deal with the stories

zouzoi on February 21, 2009 9:10 am

They should deny the visa. For those who forgot a month ago children and women were savagely killed by the israeli army.
Giving the visa means no consequences for government acts.
Those international media that give lessons should start cleaning their own house. Peace is a mutual process. The israeli have just elected a far right government. So let this athlete come on an american visa.

zouzoi on February 21, 2009 11:36 am

Meant american passport

Al Joispa on February 22, 2009 12:24 am

Why should the UAE grant visas to nationals from a country it considers to be enemy? Will the Israelis grant a Palestinian a visa to play tennis in Tel Aviv?

Dana on February 22, 2009 9:46 am

As a Palestinian who was born and lived in the West Bank, I am stunned by the debate this is generating. We don’t even get permits from the Israelis to go into Jerusalem where my family has lived for over a 1000 years, when my uncle died we were not allowed to bury him in the city. Women die giving birth at checkpoints, and now there is this storm over a tennis match, and the UAE has no diplomatic ties with Israel anyway … excuse me as I have no sympathy and find this very trivial … maybe the tennis board should take up human rights violations, they seem to be getting the publicity.

Steinberger on February 22, 2009 3:44 pm

What has giving birth at checkpoints got to do with the game of tennis. Don’t mix sports with politics thats the thin end of the wedge